The Royal Ballet: Wayne McGregor triple bill, November 2016

[Jillykins]

I agree with Quintus image of a sandwich. Just how I felt, thank you for describing it so clearly. I am so glad I saw McCrae at the rehearsal and was delighted to see young Acri at Wednesday performance. He may not yet have the speed and accuracy of McCrae but such a spirited and impressive performance.

I love Chroma, much to my surprise but it never comes up to excite me as it did at the first performance I saw with Watson and Cojacura. I enjoyed the Ailey dancers but it didn't seem to make a cohesive performance. Again I enjoyed Carbon Life, it seems quite mad but makes an entertaining performance. In both ballets the dancers perform at a very high standard, but I also am concerned about the strain the choreography puts on their bodies.

Multiverse was a form of torture to me. I was tempted to sit it out but decided to give it a second go! I did applaud at the end because it was finished. Wayne's choreography is limited and repetitive. So much is often going on you don't know where to focus. Perhaps that is the point. How the dancers manage to perform in the noise they are given for music is beyond me. Why two girls on pointe when the others are not is puzzling.

An interesting evening with some outstanding performances. Lauren Cuthbertson has developed into such a talented and versatile dancer. Nunez always impresses and we have such a talented team of boys. Looking forward to following Luca Acris career.

So, next week to bring seven year old great grandson to Nutcracker. I will love seeing it through his eyes. Once again thank you to the forum for such interesting posts. I wear my blue badge but no sightings yet!

[Sim]

AIthough Roslyn Sulcas writes for the New York Times I believe she has been living in London for several years and has often written about McGregor's work .

Yes, she lives in London and she is South African.

[Fonty]

I find myself wondering what Monica Mason was thinking when she appointed Wayne McGregor in the first place.  Was it bums on seats?  I know nothing about his history prior to his RB appointment. Did he have a huge following already?  Was the thinking that a new audience, who had never visited the Opera House before, would walk through the doors and find out that ballet was really not as highbrow as they thought?  I do hope that it wasn't some sort of pressure from somewhere, that said that ballet wasn't relevant to young people today, and the RB needed to "modernise" in order to appeal to the next generation.

[Sim]

Sadly, Fonty, a lot of people think just that.  

[FLOSS]

Is it patronising to say that no one, whether a professional critic or an audience member, is capable of writing a purely objective review of a theatrical performance because the writer's views are inevitably subjective as they reflect the writer's personal tastes which are the product of personal experience and "artistic socialization" ? I won't go so far as to say that everyone has an agenda but that would be closer to the truth than to claim that a professional critic is, or can be, purely objective or that it would be better if they could attain pure objectivity.New works and new choreographers benefit from enthusiastic, perceptive, well argued advocacy. Such advocacy may persuade the less than convinced to reconsider their initial response to a work or to a choreographer.However there is a considerable difference between perceptive advocacy and "puffing" works which lack any real artistic merit. It is fairly easy to identify the local critic who writes enthusiastically about a meretricious work because it is new or because it was created by the latest choreographic "genius" it is less easy to identify the artistic agenda of professional critics who write for the foreign press. I don't think that the saying that professional critics write subjectively and that their writing needs to be unpicked and read with critical care, is particularly controversial but apparently it is for some.

Edited November 18, 2016 by FLOSS

[Mary]

I find myself wondering what Monica Mason was thinking when she appointed Wayne McGregor in the first place.  Was it bums on seats?  I know nothing about his history prior to his RB appointment. Did he have a huge following already?  Was the thinking that a new audience, who had never visited the Opera House before, would walk through the doors and find out that ballet was really not as highbrow as they thought?  I do hope that it wasn't some sort of pressure from somewhere, that said that ballet wasn't relevant to young people today, and the RB needed to "modernise" in order to appeal to the next generation.

A good thing to get people in, but the problem is, it isn't ballet ( in my view-but does anyone think it is?) so in a sense it hasn't persuaded a new audience to watch ballet.

[Beryl H]

Saw the second cast last night and managed to stay awake for Multiverse and from mid amphi the noise for the first part was really not too loud, think they might have turned down the volume? Certainly irritating though, but just watching the dancers for themselves I found bearable, Luca Acri and Marcelino Sambe were the male duet and there were some interesting duets in the third scene, the problem was that the dancing conveyed nothing, similar to Live Fire Exercise which Multiverse will join as ballets to be avoided.

 

Chroma looked marvellous again, Luca Acri danced very well in this too, Lauren Cuthbertson's pdd was another highlight. I prefer the first cast Carbon Life to the second, missed Edward Watson and Eric Underwood!

 

Agree that 3 similar McGregor's in one evening doesn't do him credit, I always prefer mixed triple bills anyway.

[Bruce Wall]

 I don't think that the saying that professional critics write subjectively and that their writing needs to be unpicked and read with critical care, is particularly controversial but apparently it is for some.

 

FLOSS - Let us look at what you specifically said - and I'm sorry if I wasn't sufficiently clear - 

 

FLOSS, on 17 Nov 2016 - 9:17 PM, said:

I think that we need to remember that every critic writes from their own perspective but that foreign critics' reviews of performances by companies such as the RB tend to reflect not only their personal tastes but their nation's view of the country, in which the company whose work is being reviewed, is based.  

 

Of course critics - whether they be professional (i.e., fiscally remunerated) or not - are subjective.  How could they not be?  They are, after all, only human.  So's the queen; so's the pope.  What I struggle with is your suggestion that they reflect 'not only their personal tastes but their nation's view of the country, in which the company whose work is being reviewed, is based'.  

 

To wit let's look at Alistair Macaulay, the British born dance critic for the NYT, which as a broadsheet covers more dance than perhaps any other at this time. - Just to be clear as to whom I reference please see his NYT bio below - 

 

 

Alastair Macaulay has been the chief dance critic of The New York Times since 2007. He was previously the chief theater critic of The Financial Times in London (1994-2007) and the chief dance critic for The Times Literary Supplement (1996-2006), founding editor (1983-88) of the British quarterly Dance Theatre Journal, and a guest dance critic for The New Yorker (1988 and 1992).

 

Surely Mr. Macaulay would be far more influenced in his dance writings by his British upbringing/education - especially his early dance exposure in the UK - than perhaps anything else.  Certainly I doubt - well, I certainly hope - Mr. Macaulay would not deign to feel that he was in any way reflecting his 'nation's view' - i.e., the US of A's view - a country in which he is, himself, an immigrant - on any foreign dance company he has/had the privilege to review.  This would I think put his reviews of, say, the Bolshoi in a rather uncertain light and give any actual piece of journalism etched from his pen much more credence than it should ever - in a general sense - and certainly from my own perspective - be allowed.   If it were to have been otherwise his unfortunate statement regarding the magnificent Ms. Ringer - (an artist who I - and I'm sure you FLOSS knowing your tastes and wide ranging history of viewing ballet - greatly admired) - would have sparked even greater controversy than it rightfully did.  While it may have been a most unfortunate comment on the weight of a ballerina I don't think it could ever have been considered in any light as a treatise on American obesity.  This is only by way of a simple example ... and only because I didn't offer sufficient clarity for your good self on the first round.  For that I do, of course, most heartily apologise. 

Edited November 18, 2016 by Bruce Wall

[David]

I find myself wondering what Monica Mason was thinking when she appointed Wayne McGregor in the first place.  Was it bums on seats?  I know nothing about his history prior to his RB appointment. Did he have a huge following already?  Was the thinking that a new audience, who had never visited the Opera House before, would walk through the doors and find out that ballet was really not as highbrow as they thought?  I do hope that it wasn't some sort of pressure from somewhere, that said that ballet wasn't relevant to young people today, and the RB needed to "modernise" in order to appeal to the next generation.

 

With what appears to be first call on some of the finest dancers in the world, seat prices discounted to 50% or 60% and relatively few performances it is hardly surprising that his works find an audience. What is extraordinary is the way that resources are thrown at them.

 

I don’t resent for a moment the normal high prices for what it is some of the finest art performance in the world. I pay them gladly and consider myself very fortunate. But I do feel strongly about the misuse of my hard earned shekels to subsidize works that belong properly with a contemporary Dance Company.

 

  I also feel strongly that our fine artists who have devoted their entire lives to the mastering of their highly specialist art are wasted on works that fall outside that very specialist field and that the sacrifice in terms of time, cost, expertise and alternative works cannot be justified.

 

Others have spoke about the damage which young ballet dancers may be doing to their bodies – I am not qualified to comment but I worry about the pressures they must feel to double up with contemporary dance styles. I also worry about what seems an unusually high level of injury over the past few years - despite the Company's high investment in physiotherapy, etc. And while I do not have the expert knowledge of many who write in these forums my impression is that the Company's technical standards in its own repertoire are falling.

 

There are many Contemporary Dance Companies, dancers and choreographers out there and we should support them: when it comes to contemporary Dance they are much, much, much more exciting! Why is the RB wasting its time and resources in a futile effort to compete when so much of its own unique repertoire remains unperformed and it can call on a number of fine choreographers who are steeped in its own tradition and able to evolve that tradition in exciting ways? It is that tradition and style that makes the Company unique - not its cross-over aspirations.

Edited November 18, 2016 by David

[Jane S]

I find myself wondering what Monica Mason was thinking when she appointed Wayne McGregor in the first place.  Was it bums on seats?  I know nothing about his history prior to his RB appointment. Did he have a huge following already?  Was the thinking that a new audience, who had never visited the Opera House before, would walk through the doors and find out that ballet was really not as highbrow as they thought?  I do hope that it wasn't some sort of pressure from somewhere, that said that ballet wasn't relevant to young people today, and the RB needed to "modernise" in order to appeal to the next generation.

 

So far as I remember Monica Mason said it was entirely her own idea - almost a 'lightbulb moment'.

[Ian Macmillan]

Further to Floss and Bruce W, above, I wondered yesterday when Alastair Macaulay's working in the USA might come up over this 'national view' issue.  There is an incidental mention of being British in this lengthy 2011 interview for Pointe magazine:

 

http://pointemagazine.com/inside-pt/issuesdecember-2011january-2012confessions-dance-critic/

[Jacqueline]

So far as I remember Monica Mason said it was entirely her own idea - almost a 'lightbulb moment'.

Like one of those eco light bulbs in reverse - starts off bright and then gets dimmer?

[bridiem]

Like one of those eco light bulbs in reverse - starts off bright and then gets dimmer?

 

Shame it didn't short entirely.

[Vanartus]

For heaven's sake am I the only one who actually likes Wayne McGregor?! ...and unmuzzled as this Forum is - and good so - calling this triple bill "a shit sandwich" (and yes ladies and gents "shit" IS the word you used even if a sense of Spießigkeit stopped you from using the actual word!) really is going too far. However not quite as bad as the Macmillan haters in New York who made vomiting noises as he walked past. Anyway I get the message, you don't like him, ok, but please a sense of proportion- remember you've got to get through Woolf Works in Jan/Feb!

[Timmie]

I'm going to this tomorrow - should I really take earplugs?? So many comments here and on the ROH website mention fingers in ears being necessary. For reference I found the Shechter thing last year louder than I would have liked.

[Bruce Wall]

I'm going to this tomorrow - should I really take earplugs?? So many comments here and on the ROH website mention fingers in ears being necessary. For reference I found the Shechter thing last year louder than I would have liked.

 

Funny, Timmie, I must confess that during the 'Multiverse' opening rant(s) I found myself searching for that 'Farage' echo.  

 

It was not, I fear, to come ... but then it's time ... much as for the ballet - (sorry, dance work) - it was incarcerated in ... may well have passed.   

Edited November 18, 2016 by Bruce Wall

[bangorballetboy]

I'm going to this tomorrow - should I really take earplugs?? So many comments here and on the ROH website mention fingers in ears being necessary. For reference I found the Shechter thing last year louder than I would have liked.

 

I would recommend taking them so that you can put them in if you feel uncomfortable.  I have seen every performance of Multiverse (plus the rehearsal) and am certainly more comfortable (and, therefore, able to concentrate better) with the ear plugs in.  The sound is certainly louder in the grand tier and balcony compared to the front row.

[Beryl H]

In Carbon Life the rapper Dave ended his song with a reference to Donald Trump which brought laughter and applause, the music for this ballet is quite loud too, at a previous run an elderly lady next to me started wrapping her cardigan around her head in an attempt to deaden the sound, then suddenly stood up and said she couldn't put up with it any longer and everyone had to quickly let her through, hope she didn't go this time! I was sitting in the Balcony then and it was certainly much louder there than in the amphi.

[capybara]

For heaven's sake am I the only one who actually likes Wayne McGregor?! ...and unmuzzled as this Forum is - and good so - calling this triple bill "a shit sandwich" (and yes ladies and gents "shit" IS the word you used even if a sense of Spießigkeit stopped you from using the actual word!) really is going too far. However not quite as bad as the Macmillan haters in New York who made vomiting noises as he walked past. Anyway I get the message, you don't like him, ok, but please a sense of proportion- remember you've got to get through Woolf Works in Jan/Feb!

 

The thing is, Vanartus, that nearly everyone writing on here has been to the McGregor Triple, some more than once, so I think that we can be regarded as being willing to give things a go and being open to persuasion. In many of the posts above, I detect a sense of disappointment that the bill did not meet expectations rather than downright condemnation.

 

Of course, the competition up the road this week does McGregor no favours and  I'm happy that I booked for more than one of Khan's Giselles and restricted myself to one McGregor.

[Mary]

Yes -and many of us have been seeing his work every year for 10 years so I don't think people are making hasty or thoughtless judgements..in fact, very considered judgements.

[bridiem]

For heaven's sake am I the only one who actually likes Wayne McGregor?! ...and unmuzzled as this Forum is - and good so - calling this triple bill "a shit sandwich" (and yes ladies and gents "shit" IS the word you used even if a sense of Spießigkeit stopped you from using the actual word!) really is going too far. However not quite as bad as the Macmillan haters in New York who made vomiting noises as he walked past. Anyway I get the message, you don't like him, ok, but please a sense of proportion- remember you've got to get through Woolf Works in Jan/Feb!

 

I didn't know that was the intended reference! (Naïve, clearly.) Even I would not go that far... And please be assured that I'm very much looking forward to Woolf Works!

[billboyd]

With what appears to be first call on some of the finest dancers in the world, seat prices discounted to 50% or 60% and relatively few performances it is hardly surprising that his works find an audience. What is extraordinary is the way that resources are thrown at them.

 

I don’t resent for a moment the normal high prices for what it is some of the finest art performance in the world. I pay them gladly and consider myself very fortunate. But I do feel strongly about the misuse of my hard earned shekels to subsidize works that belong properly with a contemporary Dance Company.

 

  I also feel strongly that our fine artists who have devoted their entire lives to the mastering of their highly specialist art are wasted on works that fall outside that very specialist field and that the sacrifice in terms of time, cost, expertise and alternative works cannot be justified.

 

Others have spoke about the damage which young ballet dancers may be doing to their bodies – I am not qualified to comment but I worry about the pressures they must feel to double up with contemporary dance styles. I also worry about what seems an unusually high level of injury over the past few years - despite the Company's high investment in physiotherapy, etc. And while I do not have the expert knowledge of many who write in these forums my impression is that the Company's technical standards in its own repertoire are falling.

 

There are many Contemporary Dance Companies, dancers and choreographers out there and we should support them: when it comes to contemporary Dance they are much, much, much more exciting! Why is the RB wasting its time and resources in a futile effort to compete when so much of its own unique repertoire remains unperformed and it can call on a number of fine choreographers who are steeped in its own tradition and able to evolve that tradition in exciting ways? It is that tradition and style that makes the Company unique - not its cross-over aspirations.

 

 

Kevin O'Hare's pitch for the post of Director was for him to be part of a 'triumvirate' with Wayne McGregor and Christopher Wheeldon.

[Quintus]

Spießigkeit?  Ich?  Niemals!  Wiederholtemittelmäßigkeitintoleranz?  Tja, vielleicht...

[zxDaveM]

For heaven's sake am I the only one who actually likes Wayne McGregor?! ...and unmuzzled as this Forum is - and good so - calling this triple bill "a shit sandwich" (and yes ladies and gents "shit" IS the word you used even if a sense of Spießigkeit stopped you from using the actual word!) really is going too far. However not quite as bad as the Macmillan haters in New York who made vomiting noises as he walked past. Anyway I get the message, you don't like him, ok, but please a sense of proportion- remember you've got to get through Woolf Works in Jan/Feb!

 

No, I like a lot of his works too. Not everything, but adore Infra, love Chroma, Woolf Works (though the mid section was a challenge at times), Carbon Life and so on. I also think the final pdd in Raven Girl a keeper (can see that in galas for a good few years). I also liked Live Fire Exercise (in a distinct minority there i think!). Saying that, there are a few I don't like, and the first 2 sections of Multiverse definitely fall into that category, though the newly commisioned part is one I like.

[Timmie]

I would recommend taking them so that you can put them in if you feel uncomfortable.  I have seen every performance of Multiverse (plus the rehearsal) and am certainly more comfortable (and, therefore, able to concentrate better) with the ear plugs in.  The sound is certainly louder in the grand tier and balcony compared to the front row.

 

Thank you, and good grief! I never thought I would be going to see the Royal Ballet with earplugs in my pocket.

[Jacqueline]

For me it's not just McGregor. I am almost totally underwhelmed by Wheeldon and Scarlett as well. I wouldn't go to a triple by any of them, too much sameness and as a result while there may be flashes of brilliance, shortcomings are highlighted. I agree that triples work best when they showcase different choreographers.

Edited November 18, 2016 by Jacqueline

[Ian Macmillan]

Folks, can we please ease up on the language here - where, by the way, we have a marked preference for English - and restore an aura of calm to this thread.

[Vanartus]

Ouch!

[Jam Dancer]

For heaven's sake am I the only one who actually likes Wayne McGregor?! ...and unmuzzled as this Forum is - and good so - calling this triple bill "a shit sandwich" (and yes ladies and gents "shit" IS the word you used even if a sense of Spießigkeit stopped you from using the actual word!) really is going too far. However not quite as bad as the Macmillan haters in New York who made vomiting noises as he walked past. Anyway I get the message, you don't like him, ok, but please a sense of proportion- remember you've got to get through Woolf Works in Jan/Feb!

 

 

No I don't think so at all.   I do actually like a number of his pieces but I dare say there have been a fair number of duds and I did not enjoy Multiverse although I had desperately hoped to.

 

I'd go so far as to say I think I understand what Monica Mason might've been aiming for when she made the appointment but I am not so sure that it is working.  I am not opposed to the RB

doing some contemporary dance pieces if they actually add something to the company and its main body of work is not neglected as a result.  I always enjoy seeing the RB perform The Rite of Spring which isn't classical ballet.

would rather see McGregor pushing in that kind of heady direction that could bring new fans to the RB who would then want to discover some of the company's core works.... I don't know this for sure but I don't think that is happening.

 

During the 2nd interval on Monday night, I was busy hatching a plot to kidnap Alexei Ratmansky .....

[Jan McNulty]

I haven't seen much of Wayne McGregor's work at ROH - Chroma, Infra and Obsidian Tear, all of which I have enjoyed.

 

I have loved the work I have seen his own company doing.  

[Terpsichore]

I was at last night's performance and enjoyed all three works although my favourite was Carbon Life which I saw for the first time yesterday.  

I had already seen  Chroma several times including a performance last year by the  Dutch National Ballet who staged it as part of their Cool Britannia triple bill with works by Christopher Wheeldon and David Dawson. I can't remember whether I mentioned that performance on this website but I certainly reviewed it in Terpsichore.   I thought last night's performance was good too and I was particularly impressed by the Alvin Ailey dancers, especially Roberts. However, Lamb, Cutherbertson, Bonelli et al were good too - or at least I thought so.

 

Multiverse was a bit more challenging especially in the way it started but it softened as it continued, particularly after It's gonna rain ended. I certainly hope to see it again

 

I was enchanted with Carbon Life from the start, I enjoyed every scene and every song. I particularly enjoyed the rapper and sniggered with everyone else at his dig at President-elect Trump.  I liked the show so much I felt compelled to rise to my feet at the end and I was glad to see that I was not the only one.

I did the job properly yesterday. I had a seat in the centre of the stalls and a table to myself in the Paul Hamlyn balcony where I could reflect over a good meal and an endless supply of coffee.   Usually, my trips to London have to be rushed but I finished work early, had a nice chat with a chum over afternoon tea and was the first one in the theatre at 17:15. I had time to read the programme properly, I wasn't straining my eyesight from the amphitheatre or elbowing my way to the bar at each intermission.  I am sure that helped my appreciation of the performance.

I can understand why the triple bill might not appeal to everyone and that's OK. We're all different with different tastes and preferences.   Most folk seem to like Nixon's Swan Lake, Akram Khan's Giselle  and Anastasia more than I do.   As I say, it's all a question of personal preference and individual taste.

 

If anyone wants to read more about what I thought of yesterday's show I have posted a short review in Terpsichore which I penned on the train back to Yorkshire.

Edited November 18, 2016 by terpsichore

[Duck]

... am I the only one who actually likes Wayne McGregor?! ...

 

I haven't seen the current triple bill and am thus unable to comment on Multiverse. I enjoyed, however, most of the pieces by Wayne McGregor that I saw at the ROH between 2008 and 2016 - Chroma, Infra (& this introduced me to Max Richter's music), Carbon Life, Raven Girl, The Art of Fugue (... introduction of Bach's The Art of Fugue), Woolf Works (... introduction to Virginia Woolf), Obsidian Tear. I look forward to Tree of Codes next year. The last eight years would have been a lot less interesting without.

[JennyTaylor]

I haven't bothered to go at all which I know means I can't be seen to have an opinion.

 

However, perhaps the RB could take note that as a great fan, this is one production which I can't face, and don't want to see.  I can't believe I'm the only person who feels like that, however loyal a fan.  Revenue lost.